


Aches and Pains

by firelord65



Series: Fecky's Whumptober Oneshots [21]
Category: Black Widow (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Bucky Barnes has Chronic Pain, Chronic Pain, Gen, Slice of Life, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:36:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27143257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firelord65/pseuds/firelord65
Summary: Most days are alright but not great when living with chronic pain. Today was not one of them.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov
Series: Fecky's Whumptober Oneshots [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950469
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Aches and Pains

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober Day 21: I Don't Feel So Well - Chronic Pain | ~~Hypothermia | Infection~~

From the moment that sleep slipped away from him, James knew this was not going to be a good day. Next to him in the bed, Natasha was already awake and sipping at her coffee while she tapped away on her laptop. He rolled over and pressed his face into her hip, trying to draw strength from her.

She didn't say anything. Her tapping paused as she transferred her mug to the side table with a soft tap of ceramic on wood. Then her hand, warmed from the coffee, settled comfortably on his head. Her fingers threaded slowly through his hair.

James basked in the moment, trying to lose himself in the feeling and the lingering haze from sleep. It was eroded by every slow, omnipresent ache of pain coming from his shoulder. The more that he shifted on his side the worse it felt. He needed to get up and find that stash of painkillers that Dr. Cho's local friend-of-a-friend had sent over for days like this. "Morning, 'Tasha," James grunted finally. He still hadn't sat up yet.

"It is still morning," she replied in that careful way that told him she was picking her words carefully, "for at least another forty minutes. Then you might need to reassess." It had been a long night last night. Not even Liho had been awake when they got in, the slinky black cat much preferring to savor the last dregs of four A.M. darkness nestled in her corner of the living room she'd selected.

That was part of why he felt sore today. But even cleaning up a cabal of AIM agents shouldn't have been this stressful. Natasha seemed fine - not that she would ever let on if she wasn't. She also didn't have a twenty pound weight strapped to her shoulder, either. Grimacing, James sat up and pressed the heel of his palm against his eyes. At least he wasn't blinded by the sun. Natasha had blackout curtains. Small mercies.

"Need anything from the kitchen?" he offered. Natasha hummed in dissent and he was left to his own direction. Padding across the chilly wood floors of the apartment, James dipped into the bathroom to freshen up and to grab the pill bottle from the kit they kept under the sink. By the time he made it to the fridge he was grinding his teeth. Another poor decision. That would only give him a headache on top of the nagging _pain, pain, pain_ echoing at his shoulder.

He filled a glass with some juice and tossed back the pills. Glancing at the clock, he started the countdown to when they would actually kick in. Natasha appeared behind him and pressed a kiss to his other shoulder. "Want to hear Hill's report from Sunday?" she offered.

Natasha was good like that, giving him something else to focus on to take his mind off of the pain that sat like background radiation to their every day. "Sure," James replied. He dug through the cupboards now to find something that wouldn't require much thought beyond pouring into a bowl and mixing with a spoon. Oatmeal might have been nice but the kettle was stone cold and Natasha hadn't gotten her microwave replaced since the buttons got inexplicably jammed.

A sour taste came from the back of James' throat, a miserable side effect of the painkiller's tablet texture. He downed the second half of his juice and searched for some milk to add to the cereal he had selected.

Natasha started to read through Hill's report. It was the official story that came out of the very unofficial operation that Natasha and James had executed. Technically speaking he was still a persona non grata and Natasha was on desk duty for not having brought him in. Maria didn't care so long as neither of them were kicking up trouble for SHIELD and threw them a bone every once in a while; hence the operation last night.

"Lavery was identified after receiving an anonymous tip connecting him to the organization in question - that's a classic, don't you think?" Natasha commented. "Anonymous tip."

James chuckled and dug through the drawers for a spoon. He alternated between hasty, frustrated motions and slow, cautious ones. He just wanted to finish breakfast for Christ's sake but all he could focus on was the ache. Even Natasha's gentle ribbing was hard to focus on. Sitting down let him rest his elbow on the table and take some of the pressure off, but then without pressure he was just left to feel all the fried nerves at his shoulder firing off one at a time.

He sat there for a solid minute, spoon in hand without moving. Natasha paused in her commentary. A frown creased her brow and curled her lip. "Hasn't kicked in yet?" she asked quietly.

"Nope," James replied, matter of fact. Grinding his teeth again, he leaned forward and started to scoop the milk soaked cereal. The taste on first bite was always a shock, no matter how much time he spent in the 21st century. Cereal was supposed to be plain and straightforward. Even these corn flakes had been glazed with sugar like it was dessert.

Natasha put her tablet down and pulled out her phone. James sighed. "You don't need to fuss. They'll kick in soon enough. Stand down," he protested. Being coddled was worse than dealing with the pain. He could deal with the silent support. Natasha was great with that. She didn't have to be overly involved.

"Calm down there, tin man," she retorted lightly. "I was going to order some groceries. I thought it might be nice to cook dinner tonight." James tapped his spoon on the edge of the bowl, trying to decipher if she was bluffing or not. Then he decided it didn't matter.

"Fine." He took another scoop and through the corn flakes asked, "What did Hill end up saying about the whole Vector serum debacle? We found plenty of intel there but if it's fruit of the poisoned tree… she still probably needs to use it."

Natasha glanced back at the tablet, scanning for the answers to his question. "Nothing in this report. Now that doesn't mean she won't have found a way to scrub off our bad aura from it. Might just take time to plant it where it would fit as having been legitimately found by their people," she said.

James nodded. It was easier to focus on what Natasha was saying as she now listed off what she was thinking of getting for food. Maybe it was the thought of dinner perking him up or maybe the way that Natasha had her ankles crossed over his knee under the table. Glancing at the clock he took solace in seeing that almost twenty minutes had slipped by.

He took a tentative roll of his shoulders, pleased when the throb that corresponded was negligible. Manageable was all that he was asking for. Not the agony that this morning had threatened.

Natasha hid her own smile poorly behind a tip of her mug.


End file.
